Screening of mutagenicity of some food snacks retailed on the lebanese market

Abstract

Usage of food additives has become more and more frequent. Possible incorporation of genotoxic chemicals in dietary products, especially in food snacks, urges the need for their assessment. A total of 127 samples of food snacks, retailed on the Lebanese market, were screened for mutagenic activity towards Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100 using Muta-ChromoPlate assay. The food items fall into two separate categories: the first category abides by high standards internationally approved; the second category is of a lower cost and a general poor quality. The first category was found to show no mutagenic activity even after exogenous S9- mix activation. However, 35.8% of the second category samples exhibited mutagenicity at 99% of significance, although without metabolic activation. These alarming results imply that drastic measures should be undertaken in order to protect the Lebanese consumers from being exposed to a potential risk of mutagenicity induced by such a dietary source.